How to Open and Promote an Online Store On Instagram?

Buying online is convenient, millions of people all over Ukraine and all over the world constantly use the services of online stores. For buyers, it's a comfort, and for distributors, it's a profitable business.

It takes time to promote an online store, but the process can be accelerated if you additionally create accounts on social networks. This will help direct the first traffic to the site and create additional sales channels. Social media accounts also increase user trust and have a slight impact on ranking.

Next, let's figure out how to design a profile properly, promote yourself and start earning.

The name for the clothing store on Instagram

Creating an Instagram page is not difficult. All you need is a telephone number (or e-mail) and the creativity to come up with a nickname (the original name of your store, by which customers can find your account on the social network). In this chapter and beyond, the example will be an Instagram clothing store. 

According to the rules of Instagram, a nickname must consist of small Latin letters. You can also use the symbols – a dot and a dash. Names cannot be repeated, so yours should be entirely unique.

We advise you to create a name in two parts:

1. A unique store name 

• This can be your last name (karpenko_) 
• Themed name, such as children's clothing (minimi_; kazka_; dream_)

The main rule of this item is the relevance of basic queries:

• relevance
• associativity
• uniqueness
• simplicity
• memorability
• euphony

Relevancy is the degree to which the name corresponds to the search engine results. 

Associativity. The name should be associated with how you want to characterize your store, as well as with the main theme. You can also specify a short name of the region in which you sell (UA, UKR, KV, OD).

Uniqueness. About this point has already written earlier. You should not plagiarize and copy. Otherwise, the promotion will not work!

Simplicity. You don't need to use complex names that are difficult to pronounce and write. You should not write numbers that do not make sense. 

Memorability. This point is closely related to simplicity because a simple, interesting name is easy to remember.

Pronunciation. Avoid heavy letter combinations, which are difficult to pronounce and read. 

Account designation guidelines 

The Instagram site is full of accounts with different purposes. From personal pages to business accounts for well-known brands. So, it's your main task to properly specify what the page is.

For a clothing store, you can use such titles:

• _store
• _shop
• _boutique
• _menswear (for men's clothing)
• _kidswear (children's clothing)
• _ladyswear (women's clothing)
• _lingerie (for lingerie).

As a result, we have several options:

• kazka_kidswear
• minimi.shop
• karpenko_shop
• karpenko.menswear
• dream lingerie

You can come up with your names based on our tips. 

Moreover, in addition to the nickname on Instagram, you need to fill in the “Name” field. Here you do not have to be unique and can use any letters and symbols, in any language. For example, you can specify what is the theme of your business on Instagram:

• Children's clothing store
• Women's underwear of the highest quality
• Style. Comfort. For Men.
• Clothes for the whole family, etc.

How to open an Instagram store in Ukraine?

Often traders on Instagram work without registration and receive income on a personal bank card without paying taxes. Such activity is illegal and there is criminal responsibility for it. Let's figure out how to open an Instagram store legally.

Systematic activity that generates regular income is entrepreneurship and requires registration legally (Art. 42 of the Economic Code, Art. 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Entrepreneurship”). It means to legalize your sales, you need to register PPE (Physical Person Entrepreneur). 

Business without registration is fined from 17 to 34 thousand UAH with confiscation of the full amount of profits. It is effortless to get caught. Competitors or unscrupulous customers may complain about you, and accounts with numerous subscribers themselves attract the attention of tax inspectors.

What to write in a bio on Instagram?

In commercial accounts, it is significant to check the text for typos, grammatical and spelling errors before publishing it. Especially grammatical errors don't arouse the confidence of the client, such an Instagram store will seem not professional. This also applies to the profile header and posts/stories.

It is important that the bio communicate useful and reliable information. Do not just praise the store or write facts that are not confirmed (for example, to indicate the environmental friendliness, but you buy goods from China and do not know anything about the conditions of production). It is better to specify in the bio:

• Basic information about the store: what you sell, where you get your goods from, what materials they are made of.
• Competitive advantages: free or fast delivery, instant response from the manager, and other things that will make you stand out from your competitors.
• You can also specify hashtags for the clothing store. This can be your branded hashtag with the name of the store or indication of availability, or a hashtag indicating the purpose of the page. The main thing is not to add more than 1-2 hashtags. Otherwise, the page looks dirty and spammy.

If you want to add a third-party link, like your website (if you have one) or to other social networks, you shouldn't do that in your profile bio as the link is not clickable there. It's better to use a special section - Website. The link added to this section is easy to follow.

The information in the bio should be brief and concise. No one will read large texts because it is a presentation of the profile, a first impression. Detailed information should be specified in the section Relevant. You can create a separate topic for delivery, payment, frequent questions, etc.

The appearance of the Instagram store

Avatar

An important point in the design of the Instagram store is the avatar of the profile. It can be your logo, a picture that evokes associations with the brand, a photo of the product. Pay attention to:

• The font on the avatar should be large so that it can be seen
• The image must be in contrast to the white background
• Avatar and account in the same style looks professional

Feed design

It is necessary to choose the main color and shades in which you will keep the profile. The feed should look solid because it is the wrap of your store.

Decorating photos in staggered or block-by-block order is already outdated. It's more of a natural look that appeals to shoppers now. Change the background, the models' poses, the arrangement of things in the frame. Chaotic makes the feed a bit more lively.

Your goal is to inspire the customer to buy and to inspire a desire to be as aesthetically pleasing.

Shopping tags can be put on publications and when clicked, a link to the product will pop up, where you can put a more detailed description of the product or a link to a web page.

The text below the posts

Here, unlike the text in the bio, brevity should not be present. Of course, it is important to specify basic information: size, color, price. But it is equally significant to colorfully describe the product.

We do not advise raising the activity with the phrase “the price in direct,” such opacity discourages customers. Most people want to know right away whether it is worth spending time on your store. Yes, and it will be easier for you to contact an already potential client.

To make the text looked nice, add paragraphs, lists, emoticons, and a different font. A dry canvas of text is hard to read, it can just flip through. Highlight individual lines or words that you want to attract attention. 

Hashtags for the clothing store will help increase engagement and reach. Include them at the end of the post, and only those that match your theme. For example, for a men's clothing store, #menswear, #clothingukraine, #basict-shirt, etc. are suitable. There is no limit on the number of hashtags here.

Stories ideas on Instagram for an online store

Stories are a strong tool for keeping active. You have to remind your subscribers about yourself daily. So, what can you post on the Instagram store?

• Product overview
• Workflow (production, packaging, photography, etc.).
• Testimonials from satisfied customers
• Discounts and promotions
• Contests
• Surveys
• Q&A
• Professional advice (e.g. stylist, if the account has to do with clothes)
• Mutual PR
• Product usage
• Step-by-step tutorial on the topic
• Tips/Mistakes
• How to take care of your product
• Multiple looks (this type of content is popular)
• Clothes on different models, in different locations, with different accessories
• Macro shots of fabric, fittings, seams, prints
• Photo collage
• Sales of past collections/remains from stock
• Patriotic content (it's better to publish content that supports and inspires, but does not cause aggression)
• Announcement (new publication, arrival of goods, beginning of sale)
• Price
• Monthly Plans/Reports of accomplished work
• Product of the day
• Guides, checklists

Post 5-10 daily stories. Format them with style, according to the overall picture of your profile. Pay attention to statistics. Business accounts have wide coverage, so you can understand what's interesting for your clients. All these ideas for stories can be adapted for different types of products.

How to find a link to your Instagram?

Users often wonder how to find the link to their Instagram store because it's so easy to copy the link to someone else's profile, but your link is lost somewhere. Follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. Go to your page.
2. In the upper-right corner, click on the three bars.
3. Select Business card.
4. You'll see your profile card, which you can download. But to copy the text link, follow the next step.
5. Click the button in the top-right corner (it looks different on different devices).
6. Select copy and you're done!

If you can't copy the link using this method (sometimes your device doesn't support this feature), go to your account from the browser of your phone or computer instead of using the Instagram app. Go to your profile and copy the link from the search bar.

Earnings on Instagram without investment 

Earnings on Instagram begin with the recruitment of followers. In addition to paid advertising, which the social network offers, there are many other ways:

1. Subscribing to accounts from the target audience.

You can subscribe to the subscribers of other already popular online stores. The main thing is to do it carefully. Don't subscribe to more than 20 users per day, and the break between subscribing and the next subscription should be at least 5 minutes.

If you do not comply with this condition, you risk getting banned or having your account completely blocked. The mechanisms of Instagram are built so that numerous subscriptions are considered to be a wind-up by bots, which is forbidden in the social network.

2. Mutual advertising

Mutual PR with stores of similar subjects with the same number of subscribers will help to exchange active customers.

3. Participation in contests, likes-times

Sometimes accounts with many subscribers hold such events, where you have to fulfill certain conditions for PR. Most often these are subscriptions, likes, and stories. 

When you gain enough followers, you can get money from selling products and from advertising in stories or posts.

How to find clients on Instagram

To gather not just followers, but customers who are interested in your product, you need to meet a few more conditions. 

• Make sure to subscribe to real people, not bots, and not fakes.
• Put likes to subscribers of major online stores.
• You can also subscribe and like by hashtags.
• Participate in PR contests and mutual affiliate PR schemes only if the advertising will be done to the audience interested in your product. (For example, don't PR on a page selling tobacco products if you have an Instagram baby clothes store).

How to add a city to Instagram

To make it easier for your target audience to find you in searches, add your city to your profile header. You can easily do this by following the steps:

1. Click edit profile
2. Select your contact methods
3. Click the address field
4. Fill in the fields with information
5. Afterward, don't forget to save everything

Management of the Instagram store is not an easy task, requiring daily attention and effort. But with a lot of enthusiasm and proper execution, it can bring a lot of profit!